


Hardships

by AnonJ



Series: Stream of Soul [3]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: AD's name is Snowpoff, Gen, Sans retells a story I read once
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-24
Updated: 2018-02-24
Packaged: 2019-03-23 04:47:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,501
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13780020
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnonJ/pseuds/AnonJ
Summary: It's a dog-eat-dog world out there, and a certain annoying one has experienced a lot of hardships in his life, according to sans.





	Hardships

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ReaderRose](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ReaderRose/gifts).



“hey paps, did I ever tell you that snowpoff here won an international dog show?” 

 

Papyrus looked up at his brother. Snowpoff, who was busy gnawing on his thigh, deigned to release it and barked cheerfully, rushing off to who-knows-where. “REALLY?”

 

“yep. see, before he fell underground, he lived with these really nice people, jon and anna. they were rich, and didn’t really have any children, but they doted on him. left him everything in their will, even.”

 

“THEIR WILL? WHAT- WHAT HAPPENED TO THEM?” Papyrus was slowly getting sucked into the story, even though he was silently wondering how his brother knew about this facet of the cursed canine’s past.

 

“they were in a freak accident. jon- he was a pilot- died in a plane crash, and anna got in a submarine wreck that same day.”

 

“OH NO!!!! THAT’S SO SAD!!!”

 

“sorry bro, but it gets worse. after this tragic hardship, all their stuff, in their will, it goes to snowpoff, see? but humans are greedy-”

 

“NOT ALL OF THEM!!! SANS YOU CAN’T JUST SAY ALL HUMANS ARE GREEDY LIKE THAT.”

 

“heh. can’t get anything past you, can i? alright, maybe not all humans are greedy, but some of them were. and these greedy humans conspired to steal everything from poor snowpoff."

 

"NO!!!"

 

"yep. everyone was shocked that they had left everything to a dog, so they got lawyers to get a cut of the profits. and there was so many people doing it, there wasn't anything left for snowpoff. what a hardship. he didn't even have a home to go too."

 

"HE HAS US NOW, THOUGH!!!"

 

"he sure does, bro. but he didn't always. after those hardships, he was left roaming the streets, with only a slightly-damp cardboard box to give him shelter. a real hardship, you can imagine. it's not all hardships though, he made a friend. hobo jones. nice guy, relatively sane."

 

"FRIENDSHIP IS GOOD!"

 

"it sure is, bro. now, one day while talking to hobo jones, snowpoff learned that there was a dog show in town, and it had a cash prize. while an unattended dog may have been unusual, this was his chance to maybe improve his lot in life from his many hardships! so he entered the dog show, and everyone was stunned. they were like 'wow. who is this handsome pooch?' he was like... like the papyrus of dogs."

 

"I CAN'T DECIDE IF YOU'RE COMPLIMENTING THE DOG OR INSULTING ME."

 

"what, i can't be complimenting the both of you?"

 

"...I'LL ALLOW IT."

 

"anyway, snowpoff easily gets first place. vote was unanimous. however, even if not all humans are greedy, the judges certainly were. since snowpoff didn't have a human to accept the money for him-"

 

"WHAT ABOUT HOBO JONES? HE COULD HAVE ACCEPTED THE MONEY!"

 

"...hobo jones was banned from all the dog shows forever."

 

"WHAT!!!"

 

"yeah. long story. something about a coyote and confusing one of the judges for a contestant."

 

"...DID HE CALL HER A-"

 

"yep."

 

"YIKES."

 

"anyway, back to snowpoff's hardships. like i said, the judges were greedy, and while they gave snowpoff the trophy, they withheld the prize money, 'cause who's gonna give money to a dog?"

 

"THAT'S SPECIEIST!"

 

"yeah, but this was before monsters came outta the mountain. so there snowpoff was, with his money stolen by unscupulous humans again. faced with yet another hardship, he sadly tugged his trophy back to the damp cardboard he called home. but it wasn't all bad- his friend hobo jones was there to cheer him up! he told snowpoff, 'it’s ok. i know you got screwed, and that's a real hardship, but hey! you got this really neat trophy and at least you’re qualified for the city-wide dog show! maybe the judges will be better there, and you can really move up.'"

 

"HOORAY FOR FRIENDSHIP!"

 

"snowpoff considered this good advice, and while his hardships seemed overwhelming at times, hobo jones had made a fair point. so, he decided to put in effort. i would never do it, but hey."

 

"HOW ARE WE EVEN RELATED, BROTHER."

 

"so snowpoff goes to the city-wide dogshow. maybe his hardships will end here? he wows the crowd, budges the judges, and by the final round it's clear he's gonna end up victorious. however, as much as everyone loves him, no one loves him enough to give him the prize money."

 

"REALLY!?!"

 

"guess snowpoff was just cursed with hardships, huh? so he gets the trophy, and gets to move on to the next level, but again. no prize money. he goes back to his cardboard house in dismay, but hobo jones cheers him up with antics and encouragement."

 

"HE SOUNDS A BIT LIKE YOU, BROTHER!"

 

"nice. so hobo jones encourages snowpoff, tells him that he's making a name for himself in the dog chow circuit- after all, two overwhelming victories with no owner? so snowpoff, with his tail wagging slightly, decides to keep doing the shows, and goes to sleep, thinking maybe his hardships would end soon."

 

"but the story repeats at state, regional and even the national dog show. each time snowpoff wows the crowd, wins the trophy, and loses the prize. he should have been living the fine life by now, but plagued with hardships he has nothing to keep him warm but the five trophys and hobo jones. though snowpoff was discouraged, he decided to simply focus on how he would get to the international dog show in paris at the end of the year, and went to see if he could get passage on a ship."

 

"WHERE'S PARIS?"

 

"like, across the sea or something, i dunno. so snowpoff spends the day begging any captain he met to take him across, but no one seemed to want a dog underfoot. luckily, before this could turn into yet another hardship, he met the captain of an old boat that looked like it came straight out of a storybook; it even had sails."

 

"OH! LIKE IN THOSE PIRATE STORIES UNDYNE AND I READ!"

 

"yep. so this captain took a liking to old snowpoff, and allowed him passage to paris as long as snowpoff worked during his stay. so snowpoff went to say his goodbyes to hobo jones, and there was a lot of hugging and crying, and hobo jones wished snowpoff luck on his trip and a safe journey. maybe now, snowpoff wouldn't be so plagued by hardships."

 

"so for many months snowpoff and the captain sailed, and they had many adventures and many hardships, but eventually they reached paris, just in time for the dog show! it was really competitive, but snowpoff didn’t go through all those hardships just to give up then!"

 

"TAKE NOTES, SANS."

 

"ha ha, hilarious. snowpoff strutted in confidently and was greeted with uproarious applause. he was practically famous now! the dog with no owner, the champion extraordinaire. round after round of judging, dog after dog was eliminated. finally, it came down to just two dogs, snowpoff and another yorkshire named augustus winthrop the third."

 

"THAT IS... A MAGNIFICENT NAME."

 

"i know, right? almost as cool as 'the great papyrus'. so the judges whispered to themselves trying to decide which dog would earn the grand prize: a million bucks, enough to set all of snowpoff's hardships aside for life. but, well. sixth verse, same as the first. human greed makes everything worse. snowpoff won the trophy, the accolades, the title of champion dog... but no prize."

 

"HANG ON... IF SNOWPOFF WAS SO FAMOUS, WHY DIDN'T A HUMAN SPONSOR HIM?"

 

"well, if that happened, he wouldn't be the dog with no owner anymore."

 

"OH, OK."

 

"so, faced with yet another hardship, snowpoff lugged the trophy back to the ship and sadly went to his bunk. the captain tried to comfort him, but after this latest hardship, snowpoff just wanted to be left alone. the captain decided to leave immediately, cursing the judges."

 

"however, several hours later, snowpoff woke up to a bunch of noise. a freak storm had appeared, and everyone was panicking. snowpoff rushed out to help, scampering to the deck just in time to notice a sailor caught in the rigging. bravely, snowpoff bounded up the rigging and immediately helped the sailor free, chewing through the ropes that had ensnared him. He let the sailor down first and was about to follow suit when a sudden wave rocked the ship violently and the worst happened."

 

"OH NO, WHAT HAPPENED?"

 

"he fell, onto the cold hard deck."

 

"OH NO!!!!!!!!!!!"

 

"in one of those weird little moments of life, the sudden fury of the world paused. everyone was shocked. however, the captain was the only one who didn't seem to be worried. after all..."

 

Papyrus felt an icy fear where his guts would be if he was a human. It was a familiar fear. Just as familiar as the way sans was drawling out his words. "OH GOD NO."

 

"snowpoff was used to hard ships."

* * *

 

When asked later about the crack in his skull, Sans only replied "i kinda had it coming."

**Author's Note:**

> I made my cousins hate me with this story.


End file.
